Bush defends decision to not visit African nations torn by strife

President Bush and first lady Laura Bush meet Beninese children at Cadjehoun International Airport in Cotonou, Benin, Saturday.

Charles Dharapak/Associated Press

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania -- Opening a six-day tour of Africa, President Bush on Saturday defended his decision not to visit violence-stricken nations like Kenya and Sudan, saying he wanted to focus on his programs to fight AIDS and malaria instead.

&quot;This is a large place with a lot of nations, and, no question, everything is not perfect,&quot; Bush said during a brief visit to Benin before arriving Saturday evening here in the capital of Tanzania. &quot;On the other hand, there's a lot of great success stories, and the United States is pleased to be involved with those success stories.&quot;

The stop in Benin made Bush the first American president to visit that tiny West African nation. It was on his itinerary because it represents the kind of success Bush wants to highlight -- how American aid has helped improve water, schools, infrastructure and health care in nations that are home to some of the world's poorest people.

In 2006, Benin signed a five-year, $307 million agreement with the Millennium Challenge Corp., created by Bush to help nations that embrace democracy and free markets and commit to fighting corruption. Benin also benefits from America's anti-malaria programs, as well as an education initiative that provides money to train teachers, build schools and buy textbooks.

So it was no surprise that Benin's president, Thomas Yayi Boni, had high praise for Bush when the two appeared together for a short news conference at the airport in Cotonou, the country's economic capital. Vowing that &quot;everything that would stain democracy will be suppressed&quot; under his leadership, he said Bush's visit was an important symbol.

The White House is hoping that the Africa trip will remind not only Africans, but also Americans, that Bush has done more during his presidency than fight a controversial war with Iraq. Dar es Salaam was festooned with billboards bearing Bush's likeness, including one on the road from the airport to downtown that declared, &quot;We Cherish Democracy,&quot; and another outside his hotel, the Kempinski, that said, &quot;Feel at Home.&quot;

Still, there were some undercurrents of resentment. Two thousand people protested here Friday, before Bush arrived, waving signs that suggested he was a terrorist. And he cannot seem to avoid crisis elsewhere on the continent.

Before he left Washington, Bush said he would send Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to Kenya, where post-election violence has claimed the lives of more than 1,000 people since late December. But at Saturday's news conference in Benin, he was asked why his administration was not taking a more active role, not only in Kenya but also in Darfur, where 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million have been chased from their homes in an ethnic conflict that Bush has called genocide.

He said he had &quot;a tough decision to make early on&quot; about whether to send troops into Darfur, but had decided against doing so in favor of allowing African Union and U.N. peacekeeping troops to intervene. He also said he intended to bring up Darfur during his visit to Rwanda, where he planned to thank that country's president for sending in peacekeeping troops.